So-called “revolutionary justice” meted out by communist rebels is nothing more than “old-fashioned murder,” a leading international human rights organization said yesterday.

In a statement posted on its website New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the New People’s Army (NPA) to immediately end unlawful killings and the detention of civilians.

Elaine Pearson, HRW deputy Asia director, said the NPA has “offered excuses for cold-blooded killings of civilians for over four decades. Recent attacks show that there has been no real departure from this illegal practice.”

The rights group quoted an NPA press statement issued in the Davao region last month admitting to “executing” Ramelito Gonzaga, a member of a paramilitary force on September 2.

The statement also cited the August 19 killing of Raymundo “Monding” Agaze in Kabankalan City, in Negros Occidental, who the NPA said was sentenced to death by a “people’s court.”

The rights group’s call comes in the wake of serious attacks by the NPA on three mining firms in Surigao del Norte, in the south of the country on Monday, causing millions of dollars worth of damage.

The attacks are believed to have resulted from a dispute over what are rumored to be “revolutionary taxes” imposed by the rebels.

They also drew condemnation by the government and the Church.

“No one should doubt our commitment to the safety of investors and our fellow citizens, who deserve to be able to pursue their livelihood without threats of extortion and violence to disturb them,” said President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman Edwin Lacierda.

Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace, denounced the attacks, saying the Church cannot support “violence in any form.”

At the same time the bishop said “the Church cannot also condone the destruction mining operations inflict on nature.”